The initiatives that make up Watersheds and Cities have impacted around 3.8 million hectares. The partners have conducted diagnoses, designed integrated watershed management action plans, and deployed communication and awareness campaigns to achieve the active participation of the different sectors and stakeholders. Conservation, restoration, and productive reconversion actions have been established on more than 130,000 hectares; of this area, compensation schemes have provided hydro-environmental services on more than 35,000 hectares.
The field deployment of the projects has opened up spaces for the direct participation of the communities in the definition of objectives, the development of activities, and other participatory processes for managing natural resources. Local initiatives have directly benefited more than 16,000 families in 192 communities through their incorporation into sustainable, productive projects, the installation of various eco-technologies, such as biodigesters, water-saving toilets and wood-saving stoves, and 470 rainwater harvesting systems in areas with water shortages or wells contaminated by heavy metals.
During the first half of 2022, Gonzalo Río Arronte, Foundation (Fundación Gonzalo Río Arronte, I.A.P)., the project's leading donor, approved and formalized the fifth stage of Watersheds and Cities. This will be implemented in 10 regions of Mexico from 2022 to 2025.
The new phase, Watersheds and Cities V: Spaces for adaptation to climate change, aims to scale up the achievements and lessons learned from previous phases. It will incorporate climate change vulnerability and ecosystem-based adaptation criteria to contribute to reducing water stress through the implementation of ecotechnologies, nature-based solutions (NBS), the integration of green and gray infrastructure leveraging private and public investments, and strengthening the technical, institutional, and financial capacities of key local stakeholders.
In addition, together with local partners, Watersheds and Cities refined the subprojects and their monitoring and evaluation system, which began on July 2, 2022.